AT&T’s gigabit service will cost the same as
Google’s — just $70 a month — but AT&T is charging customers
an extra $29 a month if they want to opt out of the company’s
“Internet Preferences” program, which tracks “the webpages
you visit, the time you spend on each, the links or ads you see
and follow, and the search terms you enter.”

AT&T’s Internet Preferences program also
“works independently of yourbrowser's
privacy settings regarding cookies, do-not-track, and private
browsing. If you opt-in to AT&T Internet Preferences,
AT&T will still be able to collect and use your Web browsing
information independent of those settings."

In other words, unless you pay
the extra $30 a month, AT&T will use the information it
collects about your web browsing habits to serve you targeted
ads.

Google Fiber does not track users, the company tells Ars Technica — but
that’s because Google already tracks its users through its
various web properties like Gmail and Google+. But Google says it
won’t use or associate your account with any data from your
Google Fiber use — the URLs of websites you visit and the content
of your communications are safe, it says — “except with your
consent or to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process
or enforceable governmental request."

For an extra $50, AT&T is also bundling TV
and HBO with its gigabit internet service — but that $120 per
month rate will only be for the first three years, according to
AT&T. Adding voice to the deal costs an extra $30 a
month.

Google Fiber doesn’t offer a
voice service, and that one-time $300 construction fee still
applies — but it still offers one thing AT&T has yet to try
and match: Free 5 Mbps internet access for those that either
don’t want, or can’t afford gigabit internet.